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 Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 2:17 pm
 The evening was balmy and warm, the slight breeze was pleasant and carried the light scent of the ocean. The cove was protected by a steep cliff with a forest nestled at the bottom. The faint sounds of birdsong and the gentle rustle of animals drifted on the salty breeze to where a young lioness lay on the sandy shore. Her rich brown coat gleamed in the golden light of the setting sun, amber eyes half-closed with peaceful contentment.
She had spent the day searching for supplies for her remedies and treating two cases of youth-caused injuries. But the cubs would be fine and were now safely tucked up with their mothers, leaving the healer contentedly resting for the final hours of the day.
Stretching out on her side she sighed deeply, a gentle smile curling her muzzle. She couldn't have wished for a better life and gave thanks for finding this pride that had swiftly become her home. Her memories of her past as a rogue had faded until some days, she wasn't sure she had ever been beyond the protective rock walls that guarded this little slice of heaven. The only proof that she had indeed come from the outside was the very fact that she knew the savanah existed at the top of those cliffs, barren and hot and savage. Since she had not set foot within the shaded, plesently-scented forest since she had been accepted in the kizingo'zaa, far too afraid that if she left the sandy expance of her home she would never find her way back again and once more become lost on the wide open plains of the roguelands.
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 10:15 pm
 Kaiya limped across the sand, her paw pads hurting her with every step, the rough terrain of the Serengeti had worn them to the point where they were cracked and frayed. They were dried out, and painful, the normally solid pad frayed like the roots of the tall savanna grass the ibex grazed on. She did not think she could limp much further and with night falling she needed to find a place to rest.
She'd come down the cliffs to escape the heat, hoping she could shelter here a few days, let her paws heal a little before continuing on. On to where she had no idea, but she prayed often to whatever God might still be listening, that there was a home for her weary head somewhere.
Kaiya had already walked her paws bloody searching for that place, for somewhere she could belong, and more importantly than anything else, where she could rest.
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 7:41 am
She had been gazing out at the sideways view, the sparkling sands so close to her that they were blurred into a delicate sheen of refracted light, before the landscape returned to focus and she could see the waves dancing along the beach with happy little movements and the clouds drifting across the sky lit up from below in vibrant reds and oranges. But gradually, something high up in her vision, walking downwards and kind of towards her, caught her attention. Squinting and struggling to make out who it was, she finally lifted her head and the world tipped sharply to the horizontal. The dark shape was now at the side and had clearly come from the forest and the cliffs beyond.
Shaking sand from her ears she watched the figure for a moment before realizing it was limping. They needed her help! Jumping to her paws she grabbed her carefully woven basket of supplies and set off towards the dark shape, moving at an easy jog with her ears pricked and a friendly smile despite the woven reed handle clasped in her mouth.
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:55 pm
Kaiya was so worn out, and concentrating so hard on just placing one paw in front of the other she didn't even notice the shape coming toward her until it was only a few feet away. The female hyena stopped dead in her tracks, her ears laying back as she shrank away from the manically grinning lioness.
Why was the female smiling like that? and what was she carrying a...was that a basket?
Kaiya took another painful step backward, not trusting of the earth colored lioness, and certainly not trusting of anything that looked like it was made by those hairless monkeys who had taken away her mother and all of her litter mates when she was only a pup.
She'd been on her own since, trying to crave out some kind of existence alone and with no home. She'd run into other's of her kind, but always they'd chased her off, or worse yet, tried to capture her for breeding. She hadn't been born yesterday, and knew exactly what those males had wanted from her. Lucky for her she was a scrapper, and a very fast runner.
The later skill the one she was thinking of employing now if that lioness didn't tell her what she wanted, and soon.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:35 am
Realizing that this potential patient was a little more skittish than most, she set her basket down carefully and smiled gently. She was small for a lioness, her slim body light rather than muscular which was usually a pain for her when dealing with far bigger and rather un-corporative males but this time actually aides her in her goal of tending this nervous stranger. Trying to look as harmless as possible, which wasn't exactly hard, the young lioness spoke with her soft lilting voice.
"Hello, I'm Asali.. a healer here." Smiling gently still, the lioness nudged her chin towards the hyena's paws. "I saw you limping and wanted to help. I have a salve that can ease the pain and help with healing.
Staying where she was and not trying to get any closer just yet, she kept her head lowered, tail curling against her back legs demurely.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:32 pm
Kaiya looked at the lioness from under the fall of her mane, her blue eyes still un-trusting, but not as fearful as they had been when the lioness explained what she was, though that brought another set of worries.
She'd wandered into some kind of lion held lands...lions did not like hyenas, they hated them. Kaiya took another step back, while this female seemed to be small and non-threatening, that didn't mean her pride mates were as well.
The skittish rogue glanced around her, and another step followed, though this time it was on her paw that was hurt the worse, and she yelped as she put her weight on it. Whining softly she ended up rump in the sand, eyes darting back to the odd lioness.
" I..I didn't know there was...I didn't mean to trespass. I just wanted to rest...I'll leave if you give me a few moments to catch my breath." She hoped it was enough of an apology to keep the other lions away. She didn't think she could run right now.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 3:56 pm
Asali winced in sympathy as the hyena yelped, her injuries were not trivial and it was obvious one of her feet was pretty bad. Puffing out her cheeks in a rather mother-hen like attitude, Asali padded forwards slowly and peered at the stranger's paws.
"You don't need to worry here. You are with the Kizingo-zaa." Pausing she realised that really wasn't much of an explanation and paused to consider her words for a moment, trying to work out how to make it easy for a stranger to understand. After all, she had been a rogue herself not that long ago.
"You are a muse.. its a rank here that means you are safe, and that you may stay as long as you wish. So long as you don't hurt anyone else who lives here of course." Blinking she looked thoughtful, wondering if what she had said made sense. "If you are hungry, I have some antelope left in my den. But I really do think I need to treat those paws of yous first." Glancing the hyena's feet another worried look, she knew they had to hurt.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:01 pm
Kaiya blinked, a muse...what in the heck was a muse? And why was she one? " Ah, muse...so, no one will run me off if I stay for a few days? and you'll feed me and treat my paws?"
Her voice sounded very disbelieving. There had to be something the lioness wasn't telling her. You didn't get anything for nothing in this world, no matter what some weird stranger carrying a basket told you. For all she knew being a muse meant there was something they wanted from her, like a pup or a foreleg.
" Ok...what's the catch? Because a place that looks like paradise that offers you food, shelter and care for free cause your some sorta muse-thing has a catch."
Yup there was that tingle in her tail....something just was not right. When your tail tingled, you listened to it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:04 pm
Now Asali was the one who was getting confused. Blinking at the stranger she curled her tail round her paws and bit her lip, struggling to make the nervous hyena understand. Finally she nodded slowly. "Yes.. so long as you don't try and hurt anyone here. This is the Kizingo-zaa, all non-lions are muses...you are a perfect being, we are not yet perfect so we are not yet muses...." Trailing off she sighed, looking terribly distressed and worried about the hyena female. Amber eyes dropped to the other's paws then back up, only to return to he feet once again.
"Please... let me help. I'm a healer.. its my job..." Shifting she had to hold back a soft whine of concern, ears low against the sides of her head as she looked up at the other female, eyes big and beginning to shimmer with what looked suspiciously like tears. "I promise you are safe here.." She repeated softly, voice pleading.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:41 am
Kaiya blinked at the lioness, was she...was she going to cry? What kind of place had she stumbled into, and why was her tail tingling all the way up her spine. Something was just plain wrong about this place and if she were smart, she'd turn tail and run, but with how her paws were...there wouldn't be any running.
" A perfect being? ME?" The hyena had stop from breaking into a laugh, Gods above, this lioness had a few stones loose in her head...but still...if she could just patch up her paws, then Kaiya could be on her way.
" Okay..." the female said still a little reluctantly, " what do you want me to do?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:47 am
The slender lioness broke into a brilliant smile, almost dancing on the spot as the stranger agreed to let her help. Catching up her basket she padded closer, setting it to one side before dropping to her belly in order to examine the hyena's paws. Murmuring softy to herself she set about mixing up a paste from a few of the ingredients in her basket, several of which didn't really bare mentioning...
The past ended up a kind of pale grey-green but didn't smell too bad when Asali started to carefully apply it to the hyena's paws. It was thick and pleasantly cooling. After covering all four feet she wrapped each in a fresh palm leaf, tying the tops with a stalk of tussock grass.
Easing back she beamed happily at the female. "Can you walk back to my den? Those need to stay on over night and I will change them in the morning."
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:03 am
Kaiya laid on her side, letting the lioness work, though a few whines escaped her as her sore and cracked pads were dealt with. Still, once the balm was put on and her paws wrapped up, she felt a little better.
Tentatively she stood up, and found that she could at least bare her weight without yelping, so with a nod she answered the lioness, " Yes, I think I can manage, if it's not to far...and..um..thank you for helping me." She finished softly.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:16 am
Asali smiled softly, her joy at being able to help evident in her as she moved to stand close to the hyena, facing back the way she had originally come.
"No, it is just up the beach. I have asoft bed of fronds all ready and a meal." gently and with friendly patience, she slowly led the hyena back along the beach to where her small den sat at the head of the beach, away from the thick jungle behind. Once there she settled the hyena female in, making her lay out on the bed of leaves and with the remains of a kill close by if she was hungry.
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